Nvidia Fires Back at Intel  With Cartoons

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Nvidia has quietly begun taking aim at Intel through a series of editorial cartoons, poking fun at the chip giant through a site known as IntelsInsides.com.

Nvidia representatives and the cartoonist himself confirmed that Nvidia hosts the site, which is also linked to on its corporate blog. So far, IntelsInsides.com has only poked fun at Intel, although Bob Sherbin, Nvidia’s head of corporate communications, said that other targets could be forthcoming.

“[The site] is satirical in nature, and attempts to have a bit of fun with what is quite a serious issue,” Sherbin said of the most recent topics, which have involved Intel’s alleged use of market development funds and rebates to illegally obstruct rival AMD. “The spotlight is on them regarding this issue, and so they are a very obvious target.”

So far, all of the single-panel cartoons have been drawn by Steven Lait, a freelance editorial cartoonist whose work has appeared in the Bay Area News Group. Sherbin said that topics for the strips are “discussed” over e-mail, and that the collaboration goes both ways.

The most recent parody shows Intel chief executive Paul Otellini claiming that “I did not have bribery, coercion, and kickback relations with the computer industry,” a reference to President Clinton’s denial that he did “not have sexual relations with” Monica Lewinsky. Later, of course, Clinton admitted an affair.

“Intel’s Insides is intended to be a parody of events occurring within the semiconductor sector, with particular focus on its largest, and most-commented-upon competitor,” according to a note posted on the site.

Companies poking fun at a competitor is nothing new; Verizon, for example, has run recent commercials mocking the lighthearted style of the Apple iPhone ads, while pointing out rival AT&T’s shortcomings. (A more direct attack on AT&T’s 3G coverage has prompted a lawsuit, however.) Apple, of course, has mocked the PC industry for years, and Microsoft’s Windows 7 is its latest target.

A site featuring cartoons designed to mock a competitor, however, may be something new for the technology industry. And Nvidia might be said to have an ax to grind, as an ongoing legal battle with Intel has caused Nvidia to halt its nForce chipset development. An analyst used that development to argue that Nvidia may enter the x86 microprocessor market in the near future.

When asked for comment, Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy acknowledged that he had seen the site, and asked why Nvidia did not place the site inside its own domain, or “a place where it clearly states that they are behind it.”

For his part, Sherbin said that the site is quite clearly linked to on the Nvidia blog. A small Nvidia logo also appears near the cartoon, along with the disclaimer that the Web site is not provided, sponsored, or endorsed by Intel.

Mulloy, however, said the representations were not accurate. “It’s not cute, it’s not accurate, it is Nvidia being Nvidia,” he said in an e-mail.